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Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
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Course Overview
-
L27 -
City Campus -
Part-Time -
24 Months -
18 Sep 2023
Designed by performance makers for performance makers, this course will give you the opportunity to make new theatre, dance, digital and live performance work. You will be guided by of a team of research active, internationally acclaimed staff who are committed to making performance matter.
Whether you are a recent theatre or performance graduate, a professional arts worker, an emerging artist, or work in education, your course will see you learn among a diverse range of performance communities.
You will be immersed in an artist-centred learning environment and you will connect with other like-minded people interested in creating captivating performance work. We will give you the skills to expand and reframe your current practices within a supportive community that values practice-led research, and we will also give you the platform to perform your work at national and international festivals.
You will have access to expert teaching staff and their network of contacts which stretch beyond Europe. In recent years our students have performed at festivals around the world - these include Sibiu International Theatre Festival (Romania), Dyonisus Theatre Festival (Croatia), Edinburgh Festival, Latitude Festival (Suffolk), Gift Festival (Gateshead) and also locally at Leeds Festival.
Our students have undertaken professional placements with among others: Guillermo Gomez Pena, Robert Pacitti, Red Ladder Theatre, Third Angel, Leeds and Latitude Music Festivals, Bilbao Bai Theatre School, Kate Craddock (Mouth to Mouth), and The Kantor Archive (Noel Witts).
Why study Performance at Leeds Beckett University...
- Taught by a team of research active, internationally acclaimed staff who are committed to making performance matter
- Opportunity to perform your work at national and international festivals
- Access to workshops and guest lectures delivered by external artists at the top of their field
- Study in a culturally vibrant city, home to hundreds of professional theatre collectives, dance companies and arts festivals
- In the new £80mil Leeds School of Arts Building, you'll have access to an industry standard theatre; performance studios and a host of other performing arts facilities
Leeds School of Arts ‘When I feel like I’m sinking’ is a poem to mark the opening of the Leeds School of Arts building at Leeds Beckett University. Recited by the poet and Leeds Beckett graduate, Zodwa Nyoni, this short film showcases the creative work produced by our Performing Arts, Music and Sound, Filmmaking, and Creative Technologies students and graduates.
Everything you need to know
Discover all there is to know about the course, from entry requirements and fees to exploring the school you’ll be joining - we’ve got it covered.
Entry requirements
Applicants should either have at least a second class honours degree or have equivalent experience or training, normally from within the work environment of arts or cultural industries. All suitable candidates will be required to attend an interview, during which they will be required to present their current interests and practices in the subject area. Candidates based overseas will be supported to undertake this electronically and/or by telephone. All applications should be supported by a reference, either academic or professional; you can download our reference template for completion. All applicants should satisfy our University English language requirements.
Entry requirements
Applicants should either have at least a second class honours degree or have equivalent experience or training, normally from within the work environment of arts or cultural industries. All suitable candidates will be required to attend an interview, during which they will be required to present their current interests and practices in the subject area. Candidates based overseas will be supported to undertake this electronically and/or by telephone. All applications should be supported by a reference, either academic or professional; you can download our reference template for completion. All applicants should satisfy our University English language requirements.
IELTS
IELTS 6.0 with no skills below 5.5, or an equivalent qualification. The University provides excellent support for any applicant who may be required to undertake additional English language courses.
Selection Criteria
We may use selection criteria based on your personal attributes; experience and/or commitment to the area of study. This information will be derived from your personal statement and reference and will only be used if you have met the general entry requirements.
Independent study is a crucial part of learning at university and you will be required to undertake many hours of self-directed research and reading, and preparation and writing of assessments. Your course is delivered through a number of modules, which will help you to plan your time and establish a study routine. Outside of your lectures, workshops and tutorials, a range of support is available to assist with your independent study. Our subject-specific librarians will be on hand to direct you to the specialist learning and study-skill resources. You’ll also be assigned an academic advisor to give you tailored feedback and support.
Teaching & Learning
What you'll learn
At a weekly evening seminar, address the issues of what we know, what we should know and how we can learn more about performance. You'll look at performance research, developing different writing registers, epistemic and expert practices, and consider what really matters in performance.
Examine specific research areas proposed by yourself and your course mates, leading to the creation and presentation of a conference paper or presentation in a professional context.
Immerse yourself in a project which will result in the creation of one or a series of new performance works. You will have the option to work independently or collaboratively.
Undertake a project in a specific area of performance, such as dance, theatre, live art, or stand up comedy. You will work under the supervision of one or more members of our performing arts staff who will arrange regular observation of your work throughout the rehearsal/making/conceptual process.
What you'll learn
Visit a national or international performance festival with and take the opportunity to collaborate in talk-back sessions with artists, directors, critics and academics. You will submit a written report on your experience.
We will lead you through a series of classes in voice and body-based training including Feldenkrais, Yoga, Tai Chi, Clean Language, Kalaripyatthu, Hart and Polyphonic singing.
Develop your artistic practice under the mentorship and guidance of an established professional artist who operates in your area of interest. You will be encouraged to critically reflect on your work and identify areas where you can enhance your skills.
Explore contemporary global choreographic practices. We will provide you with the space to reconsider and develop your own making practices as a process of choreographing performance.
Gain hands-on experience with a placement opportunity linked to your career aspirations. Placements might include working in administration in an arts organisation, engaging in undergraduate teaching or contributing to in-house artist projects, either in a supportive role or in a performance context.
This is an opportunity to undertake an undergraduate teaching placement through shadowing and collaborating with staff; residencies with established artists and companies; event, project and festival management opportunities with university partners; international platform opportunities.
This module will focus on using dramatic story and ritual as a means to inspire possibilities for social change when working with young people in challenging educational/community settings.
This module will foster your skills in improvisation as a performed choreographic practice. You'll study and train in improvisational methods and skills in a range of frameworks of practice, for example ensemble practice, performer/maker, director/facilitator and as collaborator. You'll explore spontaneous composition as a practice as you employ improvisational states, scores, imagery, concepts and structures to develop improvised performance material. This module will aim to disrupt the binary understandings of the terms choreography and improvisation. You'll participate in experiencing self-organising principles in action in ensemble dance-making, and be encouraged to consider the aesthetics and ideologies presenting themselves in this context of practice.
Make work in and/or with a community, foregrounding the use of models of socially engaged practice, including critical consideration of participatory practice. You'll undertake a practice that primarily engages with and in a specifically identified community context. You'll be asked to attend to political and ethical questions arising in this practice such as facilitation, quality, non-professional labour, exploitation, authenticity and empowerment. You'll also consider the problems of this practice in immediate and wider contexts.
Study the professional context in which artists are required to teach workshops, master-classes or to ‘tour’ their teaching alongside performance work. You'll understand this method as a way of gaining support and building public engagement, opening up and sharing process and practice. You'll address the ways in which choreographers can share and develop their practice as teachers and the skills required to do this effectively.
Teaching and workshop situations are often a creative space for artists to test their own creative thinking, choreographic philosophies and embodied principles with a group of workshop participants. As such, you'll consider how pedagogy is situated in relation to your artistic practice and explore how you want to establish your teacher identity. The module will focus on what the key concerns of artists teaching with integrity may be in contemporary contexts. Your focus will be the teaching of creative practice and choreography, and you'll explore the pedagogic and philosophic principles of ‘workshopping’ and creative group leadership.
Explore practices that have been characterised as sitting within the ‘Expanded Field’. You'll study conceptual and post-conceptual dance practices and the notion of choreographic propositions existing in a wider context to include multiple formats and expressions, experimental and interdisciplinary practices. You'll look at choreographic practice as a critically reflective methodology for knowledge generation through performance making. This module will ask you to consider choreography as a strategy for physical, aural, textual, image and object compositions. You'll reconsider and develop your own making practices challenging and problematising what might traditionally be starting points for practice. Material and concepts will be explored through processes of conceptual experimentation. The module will offer provocations to form, content, structural design and will investigate questions around what might hold value, and around how choreography might expose knowledge. Your practice on the module will explore and challenge modes of production and modes of interactivity in choreographic presentation.
Fees & Funding hellooo
£9,000
UK
Studying part-time gives you the flexibility to learn at your own pace. Because of this, the part-time tuition fees are calculated using credit points.*
The tuition fee for students entering in 2023/24 is £50 per credit.
The total number of credit points for this course is 180.
*The fee you pay may differ based on the number of credit points you study.
Part-time rates for international students are not automatically displayed as there are specific visa requirements which generally limit students to study in the UK on a full-time basis. Should you wish to query your visa status you can contact Tier4 Compliance@leedsbeckett.ac.uk. If you are able to study on a part-time basis please contact fees@leedsbeckett.ac.uk for further information on course fees.
Fees & Funding
£9,000
For students entering in 2023. Full Course Tuition Fees.
Studying part-time gives you the flexibility to learn at your own pace. Because of this, the part-time tuition fees are calculated using credit points.*
The tuition fee for students entering in 2023/24 is £50 per credit.
The total number of credit points for this course is 180.
*The fee you pay may differ based on the number of credit points you study.
Additional course costs
Tuition Fees
Your tuition fees cover the cost of registration, tuition, academic supervision, assessments and examinations.
The following are also included in the cost of your course:
- 24/7 Library and student IT support
- Free wifi via eduroam
- Skills workshops and resources
- Library membership, giving access to more than 500,000 printed, multimedia and digital resources
- Access to software, including five free copies of Microsoft Office 365 to install on your PC,laptop and MAC, and access to free high-end software via the Leeds Beckett remote app
- Loan of high-end media equipment to support your studies
Access to course resources, equipment and facilities, including:
- Performing arts studios equipped with theatre lighting and a sound system
- Free entry to Inside/Out guest lecture series
In many cases, costs associated with your course will be included in your course fee. However, in some cases there are ‘essential’ additional costs (those that you will be required to meet in addition to your course fee), and/or ‘optional’ additional costs (costs that are not required, but that you might choose to pay). We have included those essential or optional additional costs that relate to your course, below.
Optional Costs
- Educational visits; the details and location will vary but the costs you will need to pay could include travel, accommodation and subsistence. When attendance is compulsory, travel, accommodation and tickets are paid for by the department
- Work placement opportunities; you will need to pay for travel expenses. If you take up a placement where a DBS check is required, the department will pay for this
Other study-related expenses to consider: materials that you will need to complete your course such as books (whilst the library provides access to readings recommended for your modules, you may wish to purchase your own copies of some books); you can also make suggestions for books to be added to Library stock; placement costs (these may include travel expenses and living costs); student visas (international students only); printing, photocopying and stationery (you may need to pay for multiple copies of your dissertation or final project to be printed and bound); events associated with your course such as field trips; study abroad opportunities (travel costs and accommodation, visas and immunisations). Other costs could include academic conferences (travel costs) and professional-body membership (where applicable). The costs you will need to cover for graduation will include gown hire and guest tickets, and optional extras such as professional photography.
As well as your mobile phone, you will also need access to a desktop computer and/or laptop to complete assignments and access university online services such as MyBeckett, your virtual learning environment. You can book and borrow AV equipment through the media equipment service accessed online via the student hub and located in the library at each campus. Equipment includes: 360 Cameras, iPads, GoPros, MacBooks, portable data projectors, portable projection screens, flipchart stands, remote presenters, digital cameras and camcorders, SLR cameras, speakers, microphones, headphones, headsets, tripods, digital audio recorders and PC/laptops (a laptop loans service is provided on campus in the library on both campuses). Student laptops are also available from the laptop lockers located in the libraries.
This list is not exhaustive, costs are approximate and will vary depending on the choices you make during your course. Any rental, travel or living costs are also in addition to your course fees. If you choose to study via distance learning, you may not be able to access all of the facilities listed if you are not able to visit us on campus.
Part-time rates for international students are not automatically displayed as there are specific visa requirements which generally limit students to study in the UK on a full-time basis. Should you wish to query your visa status you can contact Tier4 Compliance@leedsbeckett.ac.uk. If you are able to study on a part-time basis please contact fees@leedsbeckett.ac.uk for further information on course fees.
Additional course costs
Tuition Fees
Your tuition fees cover the cost of registration, tuition, academic supervision, assessments and examinations.
The following are also included in the cost of your course:
- 24/7 Library and student IT support
- Free wifi via eduroam
- Skills workshops and resources
- Library membership, giving access to more than 500,000 printed, multimedia and digital resources
- Access to software, including five free copies of Microsoft Office 365 to install on your PC,laptop and MAC, and access to free high-end software via the Leeds Beckett remote app
- Loan of high-end media equipment to support your studies
In many cases, costs associated with your course will be included in your course fee. However, in some cases there are ‘essential’ additional costs (those that you will be required to meet in addition to your course fee), and/or ‘optional’ additional costs (costs that are not required, but that you might choose to pay). We have included those essential or optional additional costs that relate to your course, below.
Access to course resources, equipment and facilities, including:
- Performing arts studios equipped with theatre lighting and a sound system
- Free entry to Inside/Out guest lecture series
Optional Costs
- Educational visits; the details and location will vary but the costs you will need to pay could include travel, accommodation and subsistence. When attendance is compulsory, travel, accommodation and tickets are paid for by the department
- Work placement opportunities; you will need to pay for travel expenses. If you take up a placement where a DBS check is required, the department will pay for this
Other study-related expenses to consider: materials that you will need to complete your course such as books (whilst the library provides access to readings recommended for your modules, you may wish to purchase your own copies of some books); you can also make suggestions for books to be added to Library stock; placement costs (these may include travel expenses and living costs); student visas (international students only); printing, photocopying and stationery (you may need to pay for multiple copies of your dissertation or final project to be printed and bound); events associated with your course such as field trips; study abroad opportunities (travel costs and accommodation, visas and immunisations). Other costs could include academic conferences (travel costs) and professional-body membership (where applicable). The costs you will need to cover for graduation will include gown hire and guest tickets, and optional extras such as professional photography.
As well as your mobile phone, you will also need access to a desktop computer and/or laptop to complete assignments and access university online services such as MyBeckett, your virtual learning environment. You can book and borrow AV equipment through the media equipment service accessed online via the student hub and located in the library at each campus. Equipment includes: 360 Cameras, iPads, GoPros, MacBooks, portable data projectors, portable projection screens, flipchart stands, remote presenters, digital cameras and camcorders, SLR cameras, speakers, microphones, headphones, headsets, tripods, digital audio recorders and PC/laptops (a laptop loans service is provided on campus in the library on both campuses). Student laptops are also available from the laptop lockers located in the libraries.
This list is not exhaustive, costs are approximate and will vary depending on the choices you make during your course. Any rental, travel or living costs are also in addition to your course fees. If you choose to study via distance learning, you may not be able to access all of the facilities listed if you are not able to visit us on campus.
MA Performance | Course insights Course Director Mark Flisher talks abut what to expect when studying MA Performance
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Your future in our hands
There’s a lot to consider when choosing a course. Take a look at the team you’ll be working with, employability statistics and career prospects to help make up your mind.
Career Prospects
Your course can be tailored to suit your specific interests. In collaboration with your tutors, you will design your own learning contracts and will take ownership of how you are assessed in many of your modules. These contracts will help you develop as a fully rounded, multi-skilled, creative and reflective artist. Your course will enhance your ability to work successfully in a range of artistic and professional contexts, and it will also prepare you for further study should you wish to pursue a career in academia.
- Stage Performer
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Beckett Careers Team
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Your Beckett experience
At Leeds Beckett your experience is important to us, find out more about what to expect from your time on this course and life at uni.
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